Eric Scheske

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Community Gardens

Community Gardens

This is an odd little piece. The author applauds gardening because it is a great example of Joseph Pieper's "active leisure." That's a great observation. But she puts it in the context of community gardens, which, the author says, lead people to sharing produce,

What are the Four Parts of Existence Strikes Back?

What are the Four Parts of Existence Strikes Back?

Preamble: Wisdom wants to know reality. A region of reality (“the Tao”) isn’t knowable. Wisdom respects reality’s unknowability while pursuing reality nonetheless. This unending pursuit reached its apex in the 13th century, then the pursuit started to decline. Modernity was the rejection of respect for the Tao. Postmodernity

Psychedelia

Psychedelia

I didn't realize the City of San Francisco canceled its 4/20 celebration this year due to lack of funding (its budget blown on free booze and needles for the homeless, I suppose) and a lack of corporate sponsorships. Corporate sponsorships? In the heart of the Haight? Nonetheless,

Foucault was a Pedophile?

Foucault was a Pedophile?

And introducing one of the themes of Part III of The Existence Strikes Back project: The rise of the irrational.

Day Drinking

Day Drinking

This NYT piece had great potential, none of it actualized. It was just the same palaver: empty stomach increases effect of alcohol, the sun further dehydrates you, yada and yads. I think the cue ("Why do we like to drink in the afternoon?") could've led to

The Death of Literature?

The Death of Literature?

If no one can focus long enough to read it, no one is going to pay for it. If no one pays for it, no one can write it. That, I believe, is the steady theme of this lovely literary essay that doesn't merely lament the state of

Central Park: A Beautiful Travelogue

Central Park: A Beautiful Travelogue

Samuel Johnson put London and life itself on the same platform, writing: When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life. I often think the same thing can be said of New York City. It, at least, seems that way to me, a foreigner vis-a-vis NYC. Despite

The Chicago Renaissance

The Chicago Renaissance

The Renaissance led Baltimorean H.L. Mencken to call Chicago "the literary capital of the U.S."

Cash Man

Cash Man

My wife and I drove Michigan's beautiful Leelanau peninsula the other day. We stopped in Sutton's Bay and hit a few bars. At the last bar, the manager finally got us a table on the roof of his busy establishment, but at that point, we'

Medical Studies

Medical Studies

Dalrymple here just looks at one problem with scientific research: the results are very hard to replicate. The scientific community is jammed with competition and the need to produce papers and studies . . . results. Scientists can't take the time to replicate to confirm what others have done. And that&